Dental health and hygiene is an area that is still evolving and undergoing many improvements. The toothbrush has seen numerous improvements and advancements in recent years. For cleaning teeth, the tooth brushing technique recommended by the American Dental Association (ADA) and most dentists is to tilt the toothbrush, for example, at about a 45° angle against the gum line and with gentle force, brush forward and backward with a short vibratory movement, and sweep or roll the toothbrush away from the gum line. More force should be applied in the rolling or sweeping movements to remove plaque and debris between the teeth. The efficacy of tooth brushing remains an unpublicized but pressing issue.
In fact, most people brush with a circling motion. According to a research article by C. Ganss, N. Schlueter, S. Preiss, and J. Klimek (Clinical Oral Investigations, Volume 13, Number 2, 203-208, 2008), the mean brushing force was, for example, about 2.3±0.7 Newton (N) with a maximum force of about 4.1 N. Most subjects, for example, about 73.8%, brushed with a circling motion, about 8.7% brushed with horizontal/scrubbing movements, about 13.6% brushed with horizontal/circling movements, and about 3.9% brushed with vertical sweeping movements. Many electric toothbrushes such as Oral-B® of Procter & Gamble Business Services Canada Company Corporation also use a circular brushing motion. Thus, there is a discrepancy between the ADA recommendation and the common brushing techniques.
Vigorous tooth brushing can cause gum and root recession, tooth sensitivity, and tooth abrasion such as wedge shape defects and dental erosion. Even though most dentists recommend using toothbrushes with soft or medium bristles, tooth abrasion is still very common among people with over vigorous oral hygiene habits. Horizontal defects are mostly due to the brushing force in a forward direction and a backward direction across the teeth surface, and this is the reason for the emphasis placed by the ADA on the sweeping or rolling motion for brushing the plaque and debris away from the gum line.
In addition to the angle of brushing and the brushing force, the shape of a toothbrush head and the configuration of the bristles also affect proper brushing of different portions of the teeth. For example, a rear portion of the third molar tooth is typically not properly brushed owing to the shape and location of the third molar tooth. Conventional toothbrushes generally have straight toothbrush heads with bristles of a uniform height having flat bristle ends. The flat bristle ends fail to conform to the surface curvature of teeth and fail to reach certain portions of the teeth structure, for example, the rear end of the third molar tooth. A toothbrush with a toothbrush head that conforms to a dental arch, and that has a bristle configuration that can reach any section around the teeth structure to facilitate complete and efficient brushing is not available in the market.
Hence, there is a long felt but unresolved need for a toothbrush apparatus with an arcuate toothbrush head and bristle configuration that conforms to a dental arch and to the surface curvature of teeth and that can reach any portion around the teeth structure to facilitate complete and efficient brushing.